


Hellfire

by sp00kworm



Category: GHOST - Fandom, Ghost (Sweden Band), Ghost (Swedish Band), Ghost B.C, Ghost B.C., Ghost BC
Genre: Demon AU, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/M, Ghouls, Ghouls are Demons, Ghouls are not human, Gore, Horror, Human Sacrifice, Implied Sexual Content, Lucifer - Freeform, Multi, Murder, Religion, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Rituals, Romance, Sacrifice, Satan - Freeform, Satanism, Sexual Themes, Slow Build, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-05-19 17:29:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14878172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sp00kworm/pseuds/sp00kworm
Summary: The Clergy is stagnant, in need of new blood. A demon falls from the sky, his wings torn free, injured and weak. Nihil was cast from hell by the unholy one. Landing in a field he wakes to find a secretive group of Nuns welcoming him into a fold. As he looked around the group, he saw her, blond and shining in the sun with a vicious grin, Sister Imperator. She promises him glory and power like a secretive temptress and the demon is pulled under her dark influence over their many years together.





	1. Fallen

A three-eyed crow screeched behind Nihil as he lounged over a heated rock in the burning light. He tilted his horned head lazily to peer at the creature perched over him on top of the twisted stick of a charred tree. The haze of hell made it impossible for anything but these black trees to grow. The crow screamed at him again and the demon raised his head, black curling horns butting the tree purposely and wings stretching upwards to brush through the hard branches. The creature ruffled its feathers and hissed at his lazy swatting before waddling along the branch and cawing again. Nihil rubbed his different coloured eyes, one white and one dark brown, before sitting up and scratching at the base of his horns with sharp claws. The crow was a signal from the unholy father. He had to attend to it or face the wrath of the great one. Grumbling, he rolled back over on his hot rock and closed his eyes. The crow swooped down and raked its claws over his back before swooping again to pull his hair. Nihil growled and swatted it again before standing up. The crow chortled and flew away off into the dusty distance. Nihil unfurled his black leathery wings and followed it with a few powerful strokes. 

The throne room of Lucifer was dark. No light moved through the room and Nihil walked into the room cringing. The spell in the cloak of darkness shifted him, lifted his guise, and forced him into his true demonic form. Skin melted away from his face and an armoured skull fused to his horns as six eyed rolled into place, looking in all directions at once. Fur sprouted over the demon’s legs and feet folded and shifted into hooves. A larger hulking frame moved through the stone room, eyes accustomed to darkness and a snapping leathery tail dragging behind him. Grumbling, Nihil cursed in the dark tongue as he leaned to kneel in the centre of the void room. His wings folded neatly along his back, quivering with anxiety. Silence. The floor lit up with a burst of colour and Nihil flinched, jumping up, hooves clicking against the stone, as chains burst from the floor and bound him in place. The metal wound tighter and Nihil roared as the runes beneath him glowed. 

A great booming voice sounded through the room, hissing the dark language of the hellish place they inhabited, “My son, you will fail me no more.” Black feathers floated through the air as Lucifer moved his great decrepit wings and a shadowed hand moved forwards to press to Nihil’s forehead. Nihil screamed as his face contorted beneath the palm, his skin melding back over his skull as his demonic form was sealed and reversed. A pentagram burned into the young demons forehead as the unholy father curled a claw into the skin, drawing the lines of the sigil with flesh and blood.  
“F-Father…” Nihil chocked out as he convulsed beneath the chains and the pulsing power of the presence before him, “Forgive me, for I have sinned…” Blood trickled down the demon’s chin as his mismatched eyes looked into the unforgiving eyes of the fallen one. Red glowing irises in a sea of black glared at him with the shimmering fires of hell within them. A barking laughter echoed through the chamber as Lucifer’s great wings lifted into the air raining more feathers down on his son.  
“Pathetic still in your anguish, reciting the words of the lord in my presence.” Feathers scraped along the stone as the angel moved in the darkness, stepping around the sigil with bare, clawed feet, “You will suffer for your arrogance and ignorance my dear whore of a child.” The devil raised a single black claw and beheld a creation of miasma, sneering down at his demon spawn.

The viscous fluid swirled above the bleeding demon and Nihil peered up at the portal swirling above him with wide teary eyes, “Father, please, anything but this.” He screamed, his powers sealed by the chains of the underworld. His fingers desperately sought purchase against the metal to pry them away and failed. Lucifer stepped around his son and dispelled the sealing spell, watching the chains slacken as Nihil wriggled free.   
“Thank you, father…” Nihil wheezed and stooped forwards. Lucifer reached for a folded wing and pushed the bone outwards, watching the leathery skin extend outwards. The devil ran his hand across the membrane carefully, claws dragging over the skin in a tingling sensation. Nihil took a sharp breath as his father stopped the movement and grumbled, grabbing hold of the thick bone by his shoulder blade. Nihil howled as Lucifer crushed the bone beneath his fingers before claws messily tore through muscle and cartilage to rip his left wing free. Nihil reached for the stump, shuddering, sharp teeth parted, saliva dripping down his chin as he screamed. Spittle flew as his father broke the other bone with a kick, forcing Nihil to the ground with the force of the blow. Lucifer pressed his foot to the bone and dug his black claws into the flesh before slowly peeling the tissue aside and severing the other wing free.

The appendages tensed and spasmed on the floor where they were thrown by the unholy one and Nihil whimpered in the sigil as the miasma above him swirled faster and faster, coalescing closer to his prone form. Blood poured down his back as Lucifer pointed a dark clawed singer at him and hissed.   
“I cast you out from hell, into the mortal plane. May you rot with the bodies of the mortals, dear son.” The devil spat the words at him before the portal dropped to engulf the young demon in a whirling purple void. The last thing Nihil saw was the burning hell fire of his father’s eyes before he was consumed by the darkness.

A sensation of falling ran through Nil’s body as he came back to his senses. Blood rushed to his head as he managed to open his eyes. The ground came rushing towards him as he spun uselessly in the air. He couldn’t feel his wings, this didn’t open or respond as he spiralled towards the earth. Heart pounding, he flailed his arms out and attempted to manoeuvre his body, so his head would not be the first thing to hit the ground. Wriggling in the air, he managed to move onto his back and looked up at the clouds. The portal he had been consumed by through span and swirled before stuttering and flashing from existence in a puff of red smoke. Nil cursed and pulled his arms tight to his chest and waited for his damaged spine to collide with the ground, his stomach sinking with the fear of the pain that awaited him. 

The pain was less than he thought it would be. Colliding with the Earth, Nil shrieked as his shoulder smashed against a rock and his head snapped backwards. His mouth opened in agony as his muscles clenched and his back pulsed with waves of hot, nerve searing pain. Nil’s head throbbed as he grasped at the loosened Earth around him, his eyes finally focusing back on the world around him. He was at the bottom of a small crater, and he glanced around to see the small pieces of shale and dislodged earth still tumbling from the lip of the pit. A rock fell next to his head and Nil reached up to feel at his head. His hands ran through his shaggy brown hair and met the base of his barely curling horns. They were a few inches in length and had just begun to curl back inwards in sharp points due to his age. The demon sighed, and shakily reached out to try and pull himself upright, finger nails gathering grit and dirt beneath them.

With a heave, he managed to pull himself upright. His back curled in protest, and he tried to glance over his shoulder. He could see trickles of fresh blood and drying blood matted with dirt and pieces of grit. Swallowing, he noticed a white piece of bone sticking out of a great jagged scar, pieces of leathery membranous skin dangling from it, and promptly looked away, tightening his hands into fists as he processed just what had been done to him. His father had taken his wings, his glorious great wings. They had been bat-like. Thick membranous sheets, leathery in appearance with great claws on the ends that a man could be pierced upon. Shaking, he put his head in his hands and weakly breathed, trying to stomach the pain and inevitability of what had happened. He peered up as a crow squawked overhead and circled, staring at him with a dark beady eye, and took a deep breath before reaching up and taking hold of a lodged stone, cursing his father for observing and laughing at his misery. The stone wobbled but stayed in the dirt and the demon hissed as his back seared at the strain. Nihill reached for a higher stone before heaving himself up with a wheeze, waves of pain pouring like molten lava down his back. The young demon felt fresh warm blood weep from the wounds and tutted as he heaved himself up another step, feeling the grit rubbing deeper into the wounds on his back.

As he reached the lip of the hole he was eye level with dark coloured shoes. He looked up, his mismatched eyes squinting to stare into the face of a blond-haired woman. She was clad in the robes of a nun and Nil scowled at her before noticing the group of them around him. They tilted their heads in fascination, upside down crosses on rosaries in their hands as they scandalously eyed him. It was then he realised he wasn’t wearing any clothes. Still laid on his stomach in front of the blond nun, he grumbled, aware of the stares at his wounded back. Muttering in Latin he looked at the girls individually. Only a few seemed to acknowledge he had said anything until the nun in front of him reached for her cloak and undid it before laying it over his back. 

She addressed him in Latin, “We all watched you fall from the sky just now. They believe you are a fallen angel. That you have been cast out. Is that true?” She looked at him with a strange glimmer in her bright eyes, like she knew more than she was letting on.   
“Cast out…A fallen angel is one way of putting it.” He grumbled and pulled the cloaked around him as best he could, the short thing falling to his knees as he stood up off the ground and fastened it closed. A couple of the nuns looked a little upset he had covered himself, but he paid them no mind as the woman before him grinned with white teeth and spoke to her sisters in a dialect he did not know. The minimal linkage it had to latin let him decipher ‘angel’ but nothing else. The nuns looked at each other with great excitement before crowding around him and moving him along. He looked desperately at the blond nun who was walking beside him, her thumbs rolling against one another as she thought.

“Where are we going?” He cocked his head to one side, his unkempt hair falling over his eyes as he moved with the gaggle of holy women. The blond nun gave him a conspiratorial smile and pressed a finger to her pink lips.  
“Hush now. We are taking you to the chapel for a proper welcome. It is a fine place to live and an even better place to be welcomed into.” She hummed in afterthought.  
Nil scowled at her, sharp claws pointed at her, “I will not be held prisoner here, woman. I am-“ She pressed her finger against his lips with a scowl as the other sisters watched out of the corners of their eyes. She muttered to him in the dark language and his eyebrows shot into his hair line as she spoke it so fluently to him, her accent lacing every word like a dark poison.  
“You will be what we need demon. Something new. Something powerful. They’re foolish to believe you are some saviour. No, what we need is power and destruction, a new leadership. She spread her hands out in front of her with a grin her eyes wide in awe of her own plan. “Maybe then we can spread the word and bring more into the fold.”  
“The fold? What sort of nuns are you?” Nihil smirked at the sister, licking his teeth with a pointed tongue as he eyed her form.  
The blond nun smirked at him, her fingers lacing in front of her, “A church of Satan, sweet demon, of sin and pleasure.”  
“I like the sound of that, sister.” The demon purred as they walked towards the chapel.

Inside the chapel, the atmosphere changed, the darkness almost oppressive as they walked through the long, cold stone corridors. The blond nun looked at him as the group stopped in front of a large chamber door, “You will rest here. We will help you bathe and change.” She motioned to the room and the demon shivered in the chilly hallway for a moment before opening the door. Steam flooded out of the room as an impressive bath house was revealed. Immaculate tiled walls and floors and a table laid with food.   
Nihil raised an eyebrow at the display, still not trusting the group of strange Satanist nuns. The blond nun motioned for him to enter again, and Nil took a ginger step forwards before turning back to her, “Before I go, what is your name, sister?” He looked at her with wide mismatched eyes and a smile.  
“You may call me Sister Imperator or nothing creature.” She grinned dangerously, all white bared teeth, before shooing him and a few nuns into the bath house. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she leaned in to whisper things to the remaining nuns, her mouth full of suggestive secrets. His demonic instincts shuddered with want. She grinned at him over her shoulder as the gaggle of nuns ushered him into the bathing room.

The experience of bathing was something he had never particularly enjoyed but being cleansed by soft female hands was something he soon found pleasing. He had been soaking for an hour when the sister returned, a sharp dark coloured suit cutting her figure in all the right places. Nil’s jaw opened a little and the two nuns who had been carefully rinsing his back giggled before shuffling away, taking their little oils and soft pampering hands with them. The Sister Imperator smiled at him before raising a single well-defined eyebrow, “I trust you are settling in well, demon?” She hummed and stalked closer, her small figure made intimidating by the spikes of her heels as she stood next to his head.  
“The company is…divine, yes.” He smiled and flicked water onto her stilettos. Sister scowled and flicked the water back at him with a flick of her ankle.

“I believe we need to see to those wounds on your back.” She pointed to where the limp cracked pieces of bone were poking out of the water. Nil flinched and unconsciously reached for the stumps.  
“They are useless now. Wings do not grow back.” He looked at the wall, flinching as he rubbed the raw flesh around the large wounds, a piece of grit grazing his finger tip.  
“It would be best for them to be removed completely, creature.” She looked at him with a pitiful expression.  
“I have a name, woman!” Nil growled at her, slightly pointed ears twitching, “I am Nihil.” He sniffed at her and scowled as she rolled her eyes.  
“Nihil, then. We have a specialist that can see to the removal of them here, rather than them become…infected.” Sister Imperator pulled a face at this and Nilhil looked at his back over his shoulder with a defeated sigh.

“Can they numb the pain?” He felt humiliated for even asking. The appendages being snapped off had been painful enough, he didn’t need to imagine what having bones removed from joints would feel like, especially now he was subjected to mortal feeling.   
Sister Imperator nodded, her blond pony tail swinging, “Yes, he can.”  
“Then do it.” Nil looked her in the eyes as the surgeon walked through the door freshly washed bone saw and brief case in hand. “You will stay with me, for this, yes?” He looked at the blond woman and was shocked to see a look of surprise cross her sharp features.  
“Of course, Nihil.” She helped him out of the bath and passed him a towel before leading him over to a large leather bench. 

Nihil laid on his stomach and jolted as the surgeon wiped down and injected his shoulder blades. A few minutes, and nothing happened, his shoulder still seared and fresh blood trickled over the bottom of his back. Another dose had no effect and he shook on the table.  
“Just…Just pull them. Do it. Before I have chance to change my mind…” The Sister spoke and suddenly his back was jerked backwards as the limp piece of bone was torn from its socket. The surgeon placed the joint aside in a metal dish his hands covered in mucus and blood. A scalpel set to scrapping the remnants of cartilage away and Nihil screamed, biting into the leather of the bench as a soft hand smoothed over his horns whispering dark comforting words. Another jolt and his back curled as the surgeon held the other joint and limp attached pieces of bone. It joined the other in the dish and Nihil cried out as rough hands tore free ligaments with the surgical knife. A squelch sounded as his shoulders twitched and Nihil’s mouth opened in agony, his hands twitching to try and feel. The Sister Imperator grabbed his wrist and forced it back down onto the leather as the surgeon pulled his needles and metal wire to stitch the wounds closed. The elder gentleman did a double take as Nihil’s wounds began to close, the demon writhing beneath the hands of them both screaming as the flesh fused over the clean wounds. They spoke in hushed tones to one another.

The surgeon left hours later after making sure the wounds had properly closed. Nihil whimpered atop the leather bench as Sister Imperator smoothed her manicured hands over his shoulders and through his hair in calming movements. Her curious thin fingers rubbed at the base of his horns and nails curled into the grooves of the short spiralling nubs. Nihil’s chest jumped up and down in a stuttering breath as the Sister sighed next to his ear. She was sat next to the bench, her head resting next to his as she looked at his features, fingers committing every detail of his horns down to his sharp nose to memory.  
“What a strange thing you are demon, demanding attention, feeling pain. I thought your kind would be emotionless, unfeeling, evil. But you,” Her hands moved to cup his cheeks, rubbing at the soft skin under his eyes before reaching for a tissue and wiping the drool from Nihil’s chin. He had screamed for hours as the wounds healed. “You are a strange one… You will bring us glory, my sweet demon. The Clergy will be restored.” Nihil felt his eyes droop as he watched the red lips of the Sister Imperator stretch into a vicious grin, her icy coloured eyes glancing over his scars as she massaged the skin of his back. “Come. Don’t fall asleep on me now, Nihil, you must go to your room.” 

The Sister Imperator called two strange flitting creatures to help Nihil up from the surgical bench. Their masks were large, beak like and white all over with no features other than eye holes to be seen through. Their white robes were non-descript as well, and Nihil drooped in their arms, trying to put his feet under himself as they carried him through to another room and carefully deposited him on the bed. One tittered to the other in a hushed tone and Nihil’s pointed ears perked up as he heard the quiet Ghoulish being whispered. The two creatures skittered and jumped as he reached to grab their robes, stopping them from leaving.   
“You are, Ghouls? How are you on the Earth’s surface?” His tired eyes drooped and one Ghoul’s tail smacked at his hand as he dragged their robes towards himself. The Ghouls’ eyes were wide behind their masks and their mouths parted in hisses to reveal sharp teeth.  
“That is none of your business, demon.” They were young, their teeth small, and their tails not fully spaded on the ends. Nihil flinched as they swiped at his hand with short clipped claws, and bolted, the door slamming behind them. Nihil looked at the heavy door and scowled wondering just what strange place he had ended up in.


	2. Beginnings

The lock on the door of the room Nihil had been put in turned with a clunk after a short time. The demon didn’t have the energy to move across the room and try to get out. His back seared with a shoulder numbing pain and Nihil’s spine throbbed as he moved under the soft lavender scented sheets of the bed spread. Nihil’s eyes had drooped closed after a short time, and he swore he heard whispering in the walls as he finally went to sleep. When he awoke the next morning, a stream of sunlight hitting his eyes, the walls had stopped hissing, and his back was sore but not painful. Cringing Nihil rolled over beneath the light sheets and shuddered as his toes poked out of the sheets and into the cool temperature of the stone room. Snuggling under the sheets, he shuddered and looked at the door, hugging a soft downy pillow as he contemplated getting up to attempt to open the door. The place was silent and Nihil’s ears twitched as the door clunked again. His mismatched eyes widened as the handle jiggled and the door creaked open. A sister put her head through the small gap in the door, her face was curious as she looked around the room searching for the new member of the church. Nihil looked at the young sister and hummed as she walked into the room and smiled.

“Breakfast has been prepared. The Sister Imperator wishes for you to join us.” The sister smiled at the demon as she spoke in Latin and pushed the door open a little wider. Nihil smiled at her with sharp teeth and pushed the sheets aside before standing and stretching his back. The sister of sin’s eyes went wide before she snickered at the naked form of the demon. Shaking her head, she walked over to the wardrobe and pulled a large shirt and pair of trousers of a wooden hanger. The woman gently placed them on the bed and walked out, still snickering behind her hand as she closed the door softly. Nihil’s eyebrows furrowed as he held the shirt up in front of himself and slowly placed his hand in one of the sleeves before repeating the action with the other and fumbling with the small buttons. His claws caught in the fabric easily and the demon spent ten minutes trying to fasten up the shirt. After wonkily doing up the buttons, Nihil wobblily stood on one leg and put his legs through the trousers before trying to do them up as well. 

After dressing he looked in the mirror on his closet and grumbled before opening his door. The sister of sin was still stood outside and raised an eyebrow at his appearance before batting his hands away and swiftly doing the buttons up correctly and tucking the shirt into the trousers. She then placed a pair of shoes on the ground before him. Nihil tilted his head, looking at the dress shoes with a confused look.   
The Sister rolled her eyes and pulled out a pair of socks, “Sit yourself down over there and I will help you, silly creature.” She pressed Nihil to the ground by his shoulder and slid the socks over his clawed feet before quickly pushing them into the shoes and tying the laces tightly.   
“Sister, if you wanted me on the ground you could have asked much earlier.” The demon’s forked tongue formed and slid over his teeth.   
The Sister of Sin looked at him with wide eyes before snorting and turning away, leaving him on the ground by his door, “Whatever you are, creature, you are incredibly bad at flirting.” She shook her head and signalled for Nihil to follow her as she strode down the hall, her frock spinning around her as she went. Nihil followed with a sharp toothed grin, his shoes clicking against the stone. 

The two strode through the halls until they reached a decent sized hall. The sister opened the door to reveal a long table set out with the Sisters of Sin all seated awaiting breakfast. They turned to looked at them as they entered and Nihil felt his pointed ears twitch as they looked at his figure before whispering behind their palms to each other. It was then that his gaze was drawn to the head of the table. Sister Imperator stood from her chair and hushed her fellow sisters before swooping her hand out towards the demon in the doorway.  
“Sisters, this is our new guest, Nihil, he will be staying with us for some time. Please, make him feel welcome.” Her smooth face was cut in half by a white grin and her blue eyes landed on everyone in the room in turn before she took her seat again and waved Nihil over to sit by her at the top of the table. The demon felt some form of pride swirl in his chest as he swanned over to the top of the table and gracefully seated himself to the Sister Imperator’s right side, his mismatched eyes fluttering at her as food was placed before him. His eyes only glanced over the food before being drawn back to the Sister Imperator as she spoke in a strange tongue to the woman sat next to her.

She ignored the demon and Nihil felt his lips move to pout before grumbling and poking his food with his pointer finger. A Sister of Sin placed a fork in his hand and Nihil looked at it curiously before stabbing his food and sniffing it. His forked tongue flicked out to lick at the morsel before he put it in his mouth and chewed. The meat was salty but crispy and he shrugged shovelling more off his plate into his mouth, enjoying the strange new tastes he was experiencing. There was a bowl of strange gruel next to his plate and he looked around the table to see most of the sisters having only that bowl of food. His eyes were drawn towards the end of the long table to the two creatures dressed in white robes, their masks pulled up partially, only enough to allow for them to eat. The demon watched the two small Ghouls eat measly mouthfuls of the gruel in front of them, the slightly larger one trying to force feed the creature next to it. Nihil watched them grumble to one another in Ghoulish for a few minutes and caught a few words that managed to carry down the table.

“Sister Imperator, may I ask you something?” He spoke quickly in Latin to the Sister, interrupting her pleasant conversation with the woman next to her.   
The Sister’s face turned sour as she fixed Nihil with a withering look, “Yes, what is it Nihil?” The woman next to her ignored them and turned back to her breakfast and the conversation of the rest of the table.  
“These Ghouls you have, do you actually know what they should eat?” The demon raised an eyebrow and pointed a claw down the table to the squabbling creatures, “Ghoul’s do not eat mortal foods, Sister.”  
“They have no expressed an opinion or aversion towards what is served to them, Nihil, perhaps you would do as well to copy them, and keep your opinions to yourself.” Her look turned scathing as she deigned to turn away from Nihil and ignore him. The demon felt himself grow hot with anger at her dismissal of him, and so he stood from his seat and walked towards the Ghouls. 

The table went silent as his chair clattered against the floor and the Sister Imperator watched him with cold blue eyes, her gaze interested in him suddenly. Nihil strode purposefully towards the Ghouls and stood behind one of them, looking down at the gruel they had barely touched. The two creatures shifted in their seats as the demon stood over them and Nihil reached for their bowls before giving them to the sisters around the lesser demons.   
“Tell them, what do Ghouls eat, my children.” The slightly larger Ghoul’s tail snapped out of its robes and whipped at the chair with a thumping noise.   
“These things do not have a say, creature, and neither do you.” A scornful older Sister hissed at them, her gaze venomous.   
The two Ghoul’s anxiously looked at one another before the larger one spoke, “Ghouls consume flesh and spirit.” It was stated factually and the Sister’s appeared shocked by the revelation, just as much as the tail smacking around had. Nihil grinned then, his eyes glinting as a thrum ran through him and his claws sharpened, his tongue hissing between his teeth. The Sister’s squealed in terror as eyes opened in Nihil’s face and his horns curled. 

Nihil cackled, making sure the Sister Imperator’s icy gaze was on him as he stooped and took hold of the older Sister of Sin’s neck. She squirmed and thrashed in his grip, desperately trying to avoid the pricking of the claws pressing into the soft peach skin of her neck. Nihil hissed and lifted the Sister in a swirl of black fabric and slammed her onto the table before dragging his claws through her skin to sever the blood vessels. The blow has knocked her unconscious, but she still gurgled on the blood, drops of it flying onto the table and staining her teeth pink. The Ghouls stiffened at the cooling corpse laid across the table in front of them. Nihil flicked the blood off his hand and held his hands out towards the prize he had laid out for them, “Feast on flesh and spirit my creatures, show these mortals what you really are, and the evil of the damned one they serve.” 

The two Ghoul’s were launched into a frenzy. Vibrant white eyes burned as they tore their faceless masks free, their skin rippling into a miasma of darkness and bleeding to black as their eyes burnt bright. Needle like teeth were revealed as their jaws unhinged, spittle clinging between pairs of teeth in their maws. The body was tussled between them as long black pointed tongue rolled out to taste the flesh of the woman. They tittered and grumbled before howling and ripping into the soft tissue of the Sister’s appendages. They held red chunks in their clawed hands and chewed the meat like the crazed starved animals they were. Sister Imperator looked on passively at the scene, her manicured nails tapping against the wood as the two creatures fought for a leg before sending it skittering with a slopping noise down the table, knocking breakfast plates aside as it went. She pushed the leg back towards the Ghouls and looked at Nihil. The demon looked at the chaos with a grin, snickering as the Sister’s of Sin rushed from the room. It didn’t take the Ghouls long to rip the corpse to pieces and quiet down, curling next to one another in a pool of blood, their spaded tails intertwined for security. Nihl ran a hand over the short horns of the Ghouls and hummed to himself, whispering something in a strange gurgling language that the Sister Imperator did not know. 

With breakfast turned into a gore scene, the Sister Imperator reached for a call bell and ordered the weedy looking butler to get a clean up crew. Hours later, the dining room looked as though there had never been a massacre. Nihil reached for his Ghoul’s, petting their heads as the Sister Imperator walked over, her heels clicking against the floor.   
She stood away from the gore covered creatures and smiled, “You have a strange way of winning the love of those around you, demon. You could have just cost the clergy their members.”  
“There will be more, Sister, there always is. Lost souls that turn to the unholy one for answers. Even people temped by sin, there will always be plenty of them to feed Satan.” He shrugged and watched the Ghouls closely, noticing their malnourished state. They were small and weak, their horns stubby and malformed. He would care for them correctly.  
“I will have someone look after this, Nihil, but you must first come with me, there is still a list of things you must do today. One of these is meet with the Clergy, and the other is an appointment to outfit you.” She hummed and looped their arms together, dragging the curious demon into the hallway.

The Clergy, as they were mysteriously named, were nothing more than a group of power hungry old men, their faces shadowed by elaborate purple hoods in a dark chamber. They had only spoken to one another in Latin and Nihil had been seated before them, forcefully stripped of his clothes and bathed in burning holy water. It still itched in his scalp as he sat before them, shivering with the cold of the room.  
“He is a demon, cast out, his wings taken…What use can he be to us?”  
“It could prove useful for bringing more into the fold, who knows what powers it could possess?”  
“He is unpredictable. Sister Margret was killed this morning in cold blood to feed those damned Ghouls.”  
The middle man sat quietly as they squabbled between themselves and listened before raising his hand, “He will be the figurehead, the leader, the Papa Emeritus. Fitting for one cast out from his homeland to be named as such.”   
Nihil grumbled beneath their gazes hissing at the prickling across his skin, “What do I get for this service?”  
The lead let out a dark laugh, steepling his fingers, “Anything your void heart desires, creature, within our capabilities.”  
Nihil’s face split with a dark grin, his mismatched eyes glinting, “You mortals know how to tempt me.”

The morning was gone quickly, and Nihil found himself with the Sister Imperator once more. She engaged him in pleasant conversation about menial details of the church until they reached a small corridor. At the end of it was a thin door. The Sister knocked on the door and it swung open to reveal a tired looking seamstress, cotton and pieces of fabric clinging to her gown and apron. She let the two of them in, muttering as she cleared one project away and motioned for Nihil to step up onto a block in the centre of the room. Sister Imperator took a seat across from him, speaking to her politely, but with a familiarity which suggested they had known one another for some time. The seamstress pulled Nihil’s arms out and measure across and around his chest and waist before pulling some fabrics out of her large stacked drawers. She held up four colours.  
“She wants to know which one you would like best out of these. They all would suit you better, but she wants to know which one you like, Nihil” The Sister Imperator translated for him and nodded at the fabrics.

Nihil looked at the fabrics and hummed. Green would be interesting, but his demonic eyes soon got distracted by the shining sheer gold in her other arm. Like a magpie he reached to pull on the shiny gold fabric and grinned at it. Pulling it towards himself, he puffed out his chest and held it against himself for the Sister Imperator to see. She chuckled and shook her head at his extravagant posing. The seamstress chuckled as well and began pinning it around his shoulders and sides to form a semblance of a robe.   
“What would you like embroidery wise?” The Sister translated for him and Nihil span slowly on the platform as the seamstress placed a mitre on his head humming.  
“Two demons locked in a battle. Unholy crosses and the leviathan’s cross, Sister.” He reached for another sheer material and the seamstress looped it over his sleeves and pinned more fabrics in placed as the robe began to take shape. She was quickly finished and pulled him out of the beginnings of the robe and mitre before shoving sets of trousers and shirts into his arms. The Sister Imperator stood and said her thanks before walking a stunned Nihil from the room.  
“Forgive her, she is quite rushed with work at the moment. Now I believe we should go and put these away in your new quarters, Papa Emeritus Nihil.” Her teasing grin sent shivers down the demon’s spine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will be beta read later.
> 
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	3. Flesh and Blood

The days that followed were slow, riddled with hours at a time spent alone in his room, fiddling with the sheets and cupboards until someone would fetch him for something. Nihil wasn’t a fool, he knew they had him locked up tight, not wanting to risk whatever they believed to have gained. The demon was escorted everywhere, and the rare time his escort spoke to him, he was rarely told about what was going on. He ached to see the Sister again, her smirk, full of dark promises that he wanted to hear. She intrigued him more than he would admit, wreaking of ambition and power he’d never seen before in a mortal. Her youthful face was round and full, with a prominent cupid’s bow to her lips and cheek bones what Nihil could break his hand on. Nihil admired the woman, and his brain curdled at the thoughts of what she was planning to do with this grotty establishment she had herself stationed in. Years from now he could see her clawing her way up the ranks to rule over them. His spine tingled at the thought. Such masterful evil she would cast upon her enemies. He rolled over in his silken sheets and grinned with sharp teeth, wriggling his tangled legs at the thought of the Sister as the sun peaked over the horizon.

As normal, he was dragged from his room, after finally learning to dress himself, and ate breakfast with the Sisters of Sin, the Sister Imperator scorning him as usual, ignoring his attempts at conversation in favour of some higher-ranking officials. His blood boiled again at her scorn and he abruptly moved, seating himself with the Ghouls and newly sworn in Sisters by the end of the table. The two Ghouls nervously looked to one another, the prominent shakes from their hands now gone thanks to their human feast. They bowed their heads in respect to Nihil and he waved them off conversing with the younger flustered Sisters. Flushed faces and wary glances danced around him as he offered parts of his breakfast. The Sisters soon warmed to him, and quickly filled him in on what he was not being told. He swapped bacon for eggs and allowed them to feed him foods, purring like a cat with cream as they spooned various foods into his mouth. Exaggerating his mouth movements, he hummed and grumbled. The Sisters of Sin snickered around him and Nihil tapped the girl’s nose to his left, forked tongue flicking out suggestively. His mismatched eyes slid up the table to look at the Sister Imperator. The Sister rolled her eyes before returning to her conversation. Snorting, Nihil returned to his breakfast, conversing with the Ghouls in accented Ghoulish occasionally. 

After breakfast Nihil was caught in the hallway, attempting to sneak away to go and sleep away the drain of using his slight hypnotic powers over the Sisters at the table.  
“Nihil, I do hope that the show this morning was enough for you.” The Sister Imperator grinned from behind him, hands on her round hips, red lipstick a clear warning for him to run.  
“Oh no, Sister, I have much more than that to show.” Nihil grinned with pointed teeth, his eyes glinting with something sinister. “I could put on a show if you’d like, mortal flesh is oh so supple.”  
“I believe everyone has had their fill of your little shows after the stunt you pulled the other day.” The Sister walked towards him, her ever present heels clicking on the tiles as she moved, “For now I think you need to go and retrieve that outfit we had you fitted for.” She linked her arm through his and began moving, ushering him along with her as she went, her bright eyes set forwards. Nihil rolled his eyes as he was pulled along, and left by the Seamstress’ door, the Sister Imperator making excuses about some meetings she had to attend. Nihil huffed and knocked before being dragged into the room.

The Seamstress pulled Nihil into the centre of the room, tutting and muttering in her own garbled language. Nihil could pick up a few words, his quick brain having already begun to learn little bits of the languages being spoken around him. The demon picked out the word ‘undress’ as she pointed to a screen and the demon slipped behind the dressing screen, carefully hanging his shirt and trousers over the top. The woman tutted again and passed over a huge waterfall of fabric before coming around the curtain herself. She rapidly slid him into the great robe and top layers then patted his shoulder. Nihil stooped slightly to allow the short woman to place a mitre on his head. The Seamstress tugged him along to the centre stand and angled the mirror.

The papal robes glistened over his form, the centre piece of the cassock two demons locked in an eternal battle. Embroidered glistening gold patterns weaved in angled lines across the piece and the chasuble lengthened at the back, dropping low to billow out with a slight breeze. The whole ensemble reached the middle of his calves where the trousers were exposed. Nihil span a little and watched the red and gold mitre glisten with a woven magic, the pieces stitched to the back fluttering, the same crosses painstakingly woven into them as well. The demon tucked his hands into his sleeves and nodded to the Seamstress.  
“Thank…you.” His tongue was clumsy over the syllables and Nihil grumbled as he hissed nonsense.  
“You are welcome, Papa.” The Seamstress ushered him out then. The demon gave her a strange look before walking down the corridor after she pushed three bundles of robes into his arms and some other various pieces and sent him on his way.

Bumbling down the hallways, Nihil tutted at his robes, having to untangle himself from them every ten steps or so. Eventually the demon managed to get to his room and dump his clothes on top of the vanity he had. Rolling his eyes, he slipped back out of his room and began to wander, trying to remember what his schedule was without the slightest recollection of what he had been told to do that morning. With a scowl, he rounded a corner and looked up at the high walls. Stained glass depicted the crucifixion of Christ, another pictured demons crawling out of hellfire, and the final piece was two angels, one falling, blackened wings burning, the other ascending back to the heavens. Nihil gazed at the glistening pieces with a feeling of wonder, watching the light pass through the glass and project the images onto the other wall. Fiddling with his embroidered sleeves, Nihil continued to walk down the hall until he caught sight of his ever-present itch.

The Sister Imperator strode out from the shadows and smiled pleasantly at him, her hands linked in front of her as she stopped in front of Papa Nihil. Her soft red lips stretched into a grin as she eyed his regalia. The robes swished as Nihil turned slightly, a grin slowly stretching his mouth upwards.  
“It is still missing something.” Sister Imperator reached for his face, her cool hands running under his eyes. She clucked her tongue, “Your face, it needs makeup, something to set you apart.” She hummed and ran her hands down over the heavy fabric covering his shoulders, her nails catching against some of the threads. Nihil involuntarily shivered at her touch and cursed himself rotten as her sharp eyes analysed the movement. She swept around him quickly and curled a finger, beckoning him after her. Grumbling, Nihil begrudgingly followed her as she began to speak again, “Something to symbolise the difference between this clergy and the catholic church itself…” Her painted nail daintily tapped against her chin as she shifted through her head for ideas.   
“A skull.” Nihil suggested, gesturing with his hand and a raised eyebrow. “It symbolises death among other things. Poisons and such.”  
“Yes. That is perfect!” The Sister Imperator clasped his hand and rushed him towards her quarters, chirping about ideas. Nihil couldn’t help but feel a little lewd being ushered into a woman’s quarters so hastily.

The Sister Imperator pulled a small case out from her wardrobe and Nihil watched her rummage through it for some time. Eventually the icy eyed woman pulled out a white and black cream and two sponges.   
“Now sit still, here,” She pulled him the stool of the vanity out and pushed him onto the chair, “and let’s see how spooky we can make you look Nihil.” She snickered and opened the cream paints, “Close your eyes.”  
“You’re not planning to desecrate my face are you, Sister?” Nihil closed his eyes but chuckled out huffed laughter as the Sister began to sponge the white over his cheeks and nose.  
“Hardly, Papa,” She teased him with his new title, “But if I do it, I think I will do a much better job than you can do.” The cold makeup made Nihil’s nose twitch and the Sister poked him with a tut before continuing and pulling out the black and a small brush. First, she lined his eyes and filled them with the sponge and then began to paint careful steady lines over his lips and blacked out his nose. 

A few details were flicked over his cheeks and Nihil wrinkled his nose at the sensation of a full face of makeup before opening his eyes and snickering at his own skeletal reflection. The skull was far away from the white elongated skull of his full form, but he didn’t need to mention that to the Sister.  
“Sister, I look comical.” He smiled at the sinister skull paint, raising a finger to smudge the lines over his lips.   
Sister Imperator slapped his hand away from her hard work, “I think you look terrifying with those eyes of yours.” She held her hand over his eyes before showing each eye at a time grinning at her and Nihil’s reflection in the vanity mirror.  
“I will take your word for it then.” Nihil stood, his golden robes rippling in a wave over his large frame. Sister Imperator only smiled at him, leading him towards the door with the cogs in her head churning with possibilities. Nihil watched them turn in fascination as she led him around the chapel in a parade. Their new leader, Papa Emeritus, bedecked in silken papal robes and skeletal face paint waved at them as they passed, a gentle sovereign smile on his face. The Sister Imperator grinned from by his arm.

Days passed without event. The slow churning of time was something Nihil was used to in hell, and his duties were minimal outside of socialising. He no longer even needed to use his powers to get the Sister’s to speak to him, so the days were no longer a challenge. A brittle scream woke him one morning, the sun barely risen, the sky outside still purple and orange. Nihil leaped out of his bed and pulled on clothes before bolting from his room, claws sharp and ready to fight whatever creature his father had sent after him in boredom. The hallway was filed with Sisters and Nihil struggled through the crowd, his shirt fluttering around him, he’d not done it up in his haste to find the source of the panic. The screaming continued as he pushed through the crowd and he came to a doorway where a Sister of Sin clutched her head, eyes wide with shock, her hands covered in drying blood as she pulled at her veil and shook, whimpering. No one moved to touch her or console her and Nihil gentle pushed the last of the crowd aside before scowling and clapping his hands, screaming at the crowd in latin, “Move, now!” The few than understood tried to leave but were blocked in by the mass of bodies peering to look at the commotion.

Their new leader crouched by the shaking Sister of Sin and gently placed his palm against her head, speaking softly in a whisper only she could hear. The girl’s shaking intensified as her wide bright eyes flicked back to the closed door. Her arm raised to point a finger at the room before her. Nihil recognised it as the Clergy’s storage room.   
“Bestow upon me, Satan, the characteristics of the Dragon. Overwhelming strength…” She began the utterings of a Satanic prayer, her hands clutched together, linked before her face with dark rosary beads between them.  
“Sister, what have you seen.” She didn’t hear him and continued to chant, closing her eyes tight in terror, rocking slightly from her knelt position. Nihil looked to the door again and signalled for them to remove the traumatised Sister. She began wailing as they carried her away. Screaming about murder and death. The demon hushed the crowd as he turned back to the storage room door and carefully twisted the knob before pushing the door open. The sight sickened his stomach.

Twisted white robes were covered in sickening deep red and a white featureless mask lay strewn on the floor by a pale hand. Nihil rushed into the room kneeling in a pool of blood to grasp the hand of the smaller Ghoul that laid across the stone. His hand was cold to the touch, something unnatural for Ghouls, and Nihil squeezed it gently. The Ghoul took a rasping breath and shuddering, blood dripping anew down the front of his white robes. Curling black horns had been sawn from his skull and laid by his feet and the Ghoul wheezed, tears the colour of obsidian dripping down his cheeks as he tried to squeeze the demon’s hand. Blood dripped over the Ghoul’s lips as he opened his mouth, needle like pink stained teeth parting to release a gurgling sound. Nihil pressed a hand to the Ghoul’s chest and scowled removing it with a hiss. Gazing at the wounds, he caught sight of the glinting silver powder and shavings sprinkled around and in the deep knife wounds. Blood continued to drip out of them, thick and darker red than Nihil had ever seen as the Ghoul couldn’t heal itself, the poisonous anointed silver pulsing through his bloodstream. Blood covered spittle flew from his mouth as he screamed and convulsed, veins in his neck and face spreading and growing to a dark black as the silver burned its way upwards. Nihil held the Ghoul’s hands and muttered, forcing his fingers into the creature’s mouth and wrench a burning silver cross from its top palette. The Ghoul howled again, and Nihil tossed the fizzing silver out of the way. It had already burned into the Ghoul’s mouth leaving a raw red wound where the palette had been sliced and the cross inserted into the cut.

Nihil heard the crowd gasping and dispersing as the Sister Imperator appeared and ushered them away but stayed by the Ghoul’s side.  
“Who did this my child, which insignificant mortal cut you with silver, chained you like a beast.” Nihil whispered softly in Ghoulish and pushed the Ghoul’s ratty hair from his face with a hardened gaze, churning the thought of a traitor among them. Someone was displeased with his outspoken view and vicious actions, that much was evident to him.   
The Ghoul reached for him but failed, his hand dropping with the weakness of blood loss and the silver poisoning slowly spreading through his organs, “Papa…The Reaper…” The Ghoul coughed again, blood splattering onto Nihil’s cheek as the Ghoul convulsed, blood vessels around his eyes bleeding to black as the silver began to reach his brain. The spaded tail thrashed madly catching Nihil’s cheek and cutting it open beneath his eye. “Papa…It hurts…” He cried and clawed at the stones with blackened hands and claws, fat black tears dripping onto the floor and wetting the drying blood on his cheeks.   
“Hush now. Soon you will be home again, my child.” Nihil gently moved to hold the Ghoul’s head in his lap and ran his thumbs over the lesser demon’s brow, comforting him through the burning pain of his insides failing. The Ghoul’s pale eyes faded as the power of the elements began to drain from him. Finally, with a final shuddering breath, the Ghoul’s eyes flickered out, black spreading across them as the demonic soul parted from the flesh and escaped back to hell. Nihil pressed his hands over the Ghoul’s hands in a prayer, his blood boiling with anger.

Another howl sounded from the corridor as the other Ghoul appeared in the doorway, white robes whirling around his legs as his larger form launched forwards, hands bleeding to black in anger, eyes glowing bright white as he fell to the floor in a pool of thick blood.  
“No…brother…” The Ghoul began to wail, tail curling and snapping as he wrenched his brother from Nihil’s grasp and pressed his dark cheek to the other’s pale, cold forehead. A piercing noise sounded and rattled the glass in the windows as the Ghoul howled, clutching his dead brother close, black tar tears dripping from white eyes over the beaked mask covering his face. The hood of the robe fell revealing short black horns and Nihil stood as the Ghoul screamed, the air in the room whipping a gale, freezing ice particles forming as the creature voiced its anguish. Saliva dripped from between clenched teeth as the Ghoul traced his claws over the other’s closed eye lids, tracing the pattern of blackened arteries, “I will kill them brother…they will pay.” The harsh clicking of the demonic language caused Nihil to kneel next to the Ghoul.

The creature growled at him, holding the body of his brother close, tears staining his white mask, protecting the body from the demon next to him.   
Nihil carefully pressed his hand to the distraught Ghoul’s forehead and whispered an utterance of the language of Hell before watching a symbol burn where his palm had been. A triangle with a horizontal line through the top burned red before fading away and Nihil hummed as the Air Ghoul clicked, tail slowing to flicking by his ankle.  
“You will have your revenge, Air, but first you must help me. We shall see to his burial, you and I.” Nihil spoke softly in gentle Ghoulish, as he held out a hand.   
Air looked at the hand and held his brother impossibly tight, “Why should I trust you. Your exposal of our true nature caused this, demon! They will never accept us just like they will never accept you and your foul trickery!” He spat at him and hissed, tail snapping furiously.   
“Our true natures are why this church will rise. We can find who dared do this, Air. This can be your home, in time, a better home than the cesspits of hell. No fighting, no hiding, only deception and power, unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.” 

Nihil’s eyes glistened with untold promises and Air looked at him with wide bright white eyes, the gale dying as he looked at his brother’s face mournfully. He released his grip on the body and kneeled before the demon, his elemental symbol burning across his palms as he held them before his form.  
“Then I pledge. I pledge myself to this cause, to this future. In return I only ask my revenge to be wrought upon my brother’s murderers. I will be a scourge on your enemies, and yours to command should that price be paid.” Air raked his claws along his own palms and squeezed his hands into fists. Dark blood joined his brothers on the stone. Nihil grinned and reached his hands forwards chanting a sealing spell. Air shook with a scream as burning finger tips pressed to his mask, the elemental symbol burning like liquid metal as his eyes dimmed to a dark brown. Nihil heaved as he wrenched his hand away from the Ghoul.  
“Your price will be paid…” He smiled, “Air.”  
Air swayed slightly and opened his hands to watch the palms heal. The pools of blood on the floor sizzled as they swirled with a myriad of colours, that eventually mixed to black. The pact was sealed with his brother’s blood and Air swallowed thickly, “I will make them suffer, Papa, these traitors will pay.” His hands fisted in his white robes, wiping red stains into the heavy fabric.  
“Yes, my child,” He ran a hand through Air’s long dark hair, “They will pay with flesh and blood.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I have a plot fleshed out so I can keep to something. Lets see how long it lasts. I hope you enjoyed. Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!


	4. Fruition

The solemn single tolling of the church bell sounded over the chapel grounds. Wind thrashed against the earth and blew leaves around the congregation as they held their hats on against the occasional gusts. Nihil stood by the Sister Imperator, quietly observing the ritual from the side of the main mass. He was required to wear his ceremonial robes, the great gold heavy fabrics tight against him in the blustery humid air. The Sister Imperator stood with her hands linked before her, heavy grucifix and tailored tight suit immaculate as she stood straight backed, watching. Sisters of Sin knelt by a great wooden pyre, their hands clasped by their hearts as a few men of the congregation in dark robes carried the body of the tortured Ghoul towards the centre. Some Sisters laid wild flowers around the wood, carefully woven braids and crowns tossed to create a beautiful bed of soft colours. The men pulled the stretcher from their shoulders and knelt to lay it over the top of the flat pyre. Women threw more rings of soft coloured flowers over the body and sang together in litanies of Latin and English, some Sisters morphed into Italian, and he heard the Sister Imperator mutter the lyrics under her breath. 

Air moved from the crowd, pushing himself up off his knees, white robes blowing in the breeze as he carefully held his dead brother’s head. Gently, the Ghoul wrapped a crown of stark violets around the Ghoul’s head and kissed the centre of his forehead, hands morphing into dark claws and eyes glowing white, raw power tingling the air as he rolled his sleeves up. Around the Ghoul’s wrists hung large bands of bright gold, and he reached with dark hands to unclasp them. Air cradled his brother’s stiff head as he held the engraved bands open before closing them around the Ghoul’s dark horns. The gold bands glittered against the dark curling horns and Air moved away again before pulling two gold chains from his robe pocket. He reached up and clipped each to one of the bands before pulling them over the Ghoul’s shoulders and attaching them to the grucifix laid over his brother’s chest. The chains swayed in the breeze and Air straightened the necklace out before gently laying some more wildflowers over the Ghoul’s body, wrapping daisies around his horns and tucking forget-me-nots into the tatty locks of hair. Air ran his hands over his brother’s cheeks before muttering something in soft Ghoulish and moving back into the congregation. The mourners looked at the beauty of the scene of death and prayed quietly by the pyre.

Nihil took a careful step forwards and watched as the crowd parted for him, their eyes solemn and sad, some Sisters having tears rolling down their faces. He reached for the hands in the crowd, gently running his palms over theirs in an act of comfort and solidarity. A few of the Sisters clutched his hand, kissing at the rings he had been forced to wear as a sign of his newfound status. He let them kiss the backs of his hands before moving on towards the erected pyre in the centre of them all. Papa Nihil gently raised his palms for silence as he stood by the head of the Ghoul, his ominous skeletal face paint stark against the rolling clouds above. His mismatched eyes looked around the crowd before settling on Air. The Ghoul’s mask was stained with dark coloured tears as he knelt in the crowd of Sisters. They held him close and whispered prayers for his brother’s dark soul as they turned their eyes up to their new leader. Nihil swallowed thickly before clasping his hands together and leading them in an unholy prayer, one of the ones he had engrained in his head in recent days, a prayer of strength from the unholy one. 

“Papa.” A monk held a torch out towards the demon, the end flickering with bright hot flames. Nihil shook his head as he gestured his hand out towards Air, his papal robes rippling with the movement to reveal the bright red embroidered inside. His eyes bore into the Ghoul’s own as he gently took the torch and passed it over to the demonic creature. Air looked up at him with normal dark eyes, tears slicking the sunken sockets with black smudges. After a moment, the Ghoul slowly stood up, reaching for the torch. Nihil placed it in his hand, clasping his own around the Ghoul’s shifting fingers before speaking into his ear, “May he rest in peace.” Air swallowed and said nothing as he walked towards the pyre, the torch flame bending with the breeze. 

The Ghoul whispered soft words of lyrical Ghoulish as he knelt, white robes dragging pieces of twigs and grass along as it pulled across the ground behind him, “This fire is your gateway brother, back to what you came from, ashes and dust, and to that you return.” Air set the torch to the wood and watched the flames lick at the small pieces of paper they had stuffed between for the fire to take to. He stirred the air around the pyre and watched the flames glow and grow, climbing up the paper and onto the logs. A few members of the congregation stepped forwards with their own torches and set light to other areas of the pyre. Air’s eyes bled to white as he felt the breeze shift to fan the flames eating into the pyre. The mass gathered close together as Papa Nihil held a hand up, watching the flowers begin to catch light, sizzling and popping as they were consumed by the supercharged fire. Air’s head fell back as he pushed more oxygen into the blaze, his mouth opening to reveal sharp teeth. Nihil cast a worried glance to the Ghoul before carefully grasping his arm. The wind stuttered to a stop as Air’s eyes bled back to a dark brown, the pupil blown wide as he gasped for breath, tears rolling down over his cheeks.

“Come now. You must not do such things. The control you have over your powers right now is minimal, Air.” Nihil brushed his thumb over the Ghoul’s head, whispering a weak sealing spell to try and control the turmoil of emotions meeting elemental powers.   
Air slumped to his knees, hands reaching out for the flaming wood in front of him. The fire snapped and hissed against his palm angrily, “Papa…What do I do?” Tears rolled down the Ghoul’s face as he cradled his burnt palm, “I am lost, I- I have no one on this cursed Earth!”   
Nihil dismissed the crowd from around the Ghoul before kneeling down and wrapping a gentle arm around the creature, “You have us all, my child. You are not alone.” He pressed his forehead to Air’s stained mask, his intense mismatched eyes gazing into the lesser demon’s eyes. Papa Nihil could not see the reflection of himself, only the rolling clouds above them, the peaks of white mountains he had never seen and the turmoil of a brewing storm in the depths. He frowned as he felt the harsh bite of an ice-cold wind around him, biting into the joints of his hands and up his long wide sleeves. Air blinked and felt the breeze die around them both. 

The pyre was ablaze, and the flames licked across the body of the Ghoul. He had been changed out of his bloodied robes and into fresh clean ones. Air wailed as the fire began to consume the clothing and moved up to begin eating at the face of his brother. The fire heated the bands around the Ghoul’s horns as it consumed the flesh. The smell of burning tissues permeated through the air as Nihil knelt beside the howling Ghoul, ears ringing with the piercing cry. Nihil reached for the creature’s face, feeling the fanned flames licking at his chasuble, and grasped his cheeks between his palms, whispering, the dark tongues rolling from his mouth in a soothing melody as the Ghoul cried into the wind. The fire roared behind Nihil as he chanted, sung almost, to the demon, hands heating with the gentle power of his words. Air’s white eyes flickered over to the man before him, mouth hung open in a silent scream, saliva clinging between the jaws. The white eye of the young Papa shone brightly as he ran his thumbs over the Ghoul’s mask before gently removing it to reveal the screaming face to the mass. Nihil’s chanting weaved magic into the wind and the mass soon began the chant, a canopy of voices, all collectively working to comfort the Ghoul.

The blasting wind began to calm, the fire bending back towards the pyre as the Ghoul’s eyes bled back to their usual dark brown, mouth closing as he gritted his sharp teeth. Black tears dropping onto Nihil’s vestments, staining them. Air sobbing into his Papa’s shoulder, claws gripping the gold fabric as his chest heaved and his body shook. The congregation stopped their chanting, watching the Ghoul cry, eyes sad and full of sympathy. The body of the Ghoul upon the pyre burned, the flames having engulfed the corpse, the golden chains and rings glowing within the blaze, the body charred and beginning to break away. Air opened his eyes as dust began to fall from his brother and held Nihil tighter, listening to the dark promises whispered into his ear.

Days of muted sadness followed in the church. The Sisters went about their duties, rushing around, they spoke in hushed voices to one another as they moved through the motions of the day. Nihil could see the creeping sadness all around the church, even the animals they kept chewed their food slowly. It was almost as though a disease had taken hold, and he had no idea how to remedy it. The demon couldn’t stand the oppressive sadness for long and headed out of the way, to the great empty hall, looking at the ancient stained glass curiously. Baphomet’s image was depicted in one and he looked up at it, tilting his head to analyse it. He didn’t hear Air sat by the great Pipe Organ until the Ghoul curiously pressed a key, a great humming noise echoing around the stone hall, rattling the wooden decorative pieces surrounding the old organ. 

Nihil turned, his long robes dragging against the stone as he heard the Ghoul press gently against the keys. The notes were disjointed and off beat, but still the Ghoul continued to press the notes he could remember. The tune was dark and sombre, full of miss pressed notes from what the Ghoul couldn’t remember. Still the large hands moved over the keys in a melody. Papa Nihil moved over the stone quickly, robes whispering softly over the floor as he drew closer to the tall Ghoul. The meal seemed to have restored some of his strength, arms not as weak, form held higher. He quickly drew his hands away from the organ like a viper, sheepishly looking up at the tall demon.  
“I saw a woman play here once, she was talented…I would like to be able to play this, and the piano…they fascinate me.” Claws clicked over the ivory as Air ran a hand along them, eyes full of unshed black tears.  
“Then learn. We can get someone to teach you…” Nihil frowned before draping his arm over the Ghoul’s shoulder, squeezing softly.   
Air looked up, hands twitching as he turned and pressed his masked face into his Papa’s robes, “Thank you, Papa…” Nihil only hushed him as he finally began to come to grips with what had happened.

The Sister Imperator clicked, tutting harshly at the crowd of Clergymen around her. She was in the hot seat, her actions being judged by the powerful men in front of her. The young woman knew how to play the game, she had been since she had arrived. More than one of the men in the room had been at her mercy.   
“His presence has caused nothing but problems thus far Sister. The Ghoul murder is another mar against his name.” The vicious snarling face of Biagio da Cesena was dark, angry, something poisonous bubbling beneath the surface of the man’s front. He was a snake among vipers.   
Sister Imperator sneered back at him, crossing her arms over her chest, red lips pursing as venom laced her tongue, “His presence has made evident how crippled this Clergy is. One small change and we have a murderer among us.” Her manicured nails pointed at the dark haired man, “Evidently you are all incapable of weaselling out such a traitor in our midst, and I will have to do it myself.” She pushed away from the desk only to hear the vicious slam of a fist against it from another hooded figure.

“Sister, you will sit! Watch your tongue before we have it cut from your mouth! You would do well to remember your place among this leadership!”   
Sister Imperator swallowed from by the door before narrowing her eyes, “And you would all do well to remember who it is that was there for each one of you when you needed relief. Good evening gentlemen.” 

She walked through the door, slamming it closer behind her, fists clenched, nails biting her palms as she digested the words. They were vile decrepit things. Old and withered and held back by their medieval views on the Unholy One. The fever dreams she had as a child had never left, the snake curling around her neck whispering the words of Satan into her mind, his plans and the future. They had sedated her for the ramblings as a young child, the doctors proclaiming her a heretic and deranged. They’d seen who was deranged as she plunged the knife through their eyes under the light of the moon. Blue eyes grew dark as she smirked, stilettos clicking as she walked through the halls briskly, hair bobbing as she turned the corner, intent on informing their new leader, on just what was to be done.

Nihil and Air were seated in Nihil’s suite, the demon trying to pronounce the words in a book in front of him. Air shook his head and said it again aloud of him, black claw pointing at the words on the page again. Nihil only squinted and listened to the Ghoul before trying to say the English words again. Failing that he angrily crossed his arms and looked at Air with pursed lips. Sister Imperator laughed from the doorway at the two of them. Air flinched and scrambled from the bed with his head held low, trying to appear small, tail drooping as he shuffled away from them both.   
Nihil patted the covers, “Sit we still have much to go through.” It was in a rushed demonic language that the Sister barely had time to catch.  
“Nihil…We must teach you English. You cannot function here without a clear understanding of modern human languages.” She shook her head and Air carefully seated himself across from Nihil again, holding out the unholy bible. Sister took the book gently, watching the young Ghoul’s dark eyes for sign he would object. They were dark with secrets, she knew that much as she took the book and tutted once more.  
“He needs something far easier than this, Ghoul. He has a child’s understanding of English.” Air nodded stoically, unaffected by her sharp words.

Sister Imperator hummed before the black board, pointing to the small word written in chalk.  
“What.” She enunciated clearly for the demon. Air sat to her left, children’ learning book in hand as he read ahead and pointed to the next activity, showing the Sister so she could write the next words down. Nihil grumbled angrily, repeating the easy word before writing it in his small children’s exercise book. The demon’s cursive made the words look clumsy, but he continued to scribble them down as the Sister forced him to learn the words. Next was a reading session, she pushed the children’s book in front of him and carefully corrected his pronunciations before Air handed her another, and another. Nihil’s grasp of English was quick, brain quick to analyse and link to Latin. He was quickly speaking sentences, perhaps his demon senses allowing him to easily begin to grasp the language.  
“Sister…Can I sleep?” Simple yet effective, his eyes were drooping, the demon growing drowsy, yawning into his clawed hands. Air looked to the Sister, shifting the books, putting them under his white robed arm. Sister Imperator sighed but nodded after Nihil yawned again. He was doing well to already to begin to articulate sentences in English. 

Air carefully helped Nihil to his feet before the Sister came over to take the man’s arm, leading him from the room. The Ghoul bowed his head as they both left, gathering the books they had been using and piling them up before moving to wipe the blackboard clean. Nihil gave a single wave to the Ghoul as a good bye before allowing Sister Imperator to lead him from the room. 

When she was sure they were out of hearing range of any unwanted ears, she turned to Nihil with a serious expression. Nihil’s mismatched eyes watched her closely, her lips pursed, a small wrinkle in her nose.  
“They are not happy about the murder…And they plan to do nothing about it. They intend to blame you Nihil.” She laid the facts out for him clearly, bright blue eyes critically watching his face, fingers curling into the thin cotton of the shirt he had on.  
“It sounds like you don’t intend to let that happen, Sister.” Nihil smiled at her, a twinkle in his eyes as he patted the back of her hand gently.  
“I don’t intend to do anything yet…I just thought I would tell you to keep your head down. They will try to turn them against you, Nihil.” She sucked her teeth thoughtfully as she regarded the demon, “I do have something, but it is far from fruition. It needs time.” Her nails tapped rhythmically against his bicep, “They must not know what it is, not until I am ready.” Nihil shivered at the smile that curled her sinful lips upwards, “The cesspit of vipers will all burn.” 

Nihil swore he could see a flicker of the past in her eyes, the burning of a great manor house, smouldering in the early morning sun. The red danced over her irises. Humming, Nihil clasped her hand in his, pulling her to a stop, “They will burn, Sister…I have no doubts you will get the power you desire.” He smiled with white teeth back at her, eyes looking her up and down.  
“I always get what I want, Nihil, you would do well to remember that.” She pulled her hands away with a sinful smile before leaving him stood in the corridor, hands craving her warmth as she walked away, hips swinging, pony tail bobbing.   
“I will remember it well, Sister.” She didn’t acknowledge the statement if she heard it and he grinned behind her back. Contently, he watched her leave, and entered his own quarters, hands already beneath his trousers as he fell into bed.

**Author's Note:**

> An expansion of Fallen, one of my oneshots, in which this will be a full length slow burn fic now my babies, strap yourselves in for a bumpy ride!  
> Comments and kudos are greatly appreciated, I love to hear peoples thoughts so don't be scared to share!


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